This invention relates to a device for sensing pressure in industrial applications. More particularly, the invention is directed to a capacitive absolute pressure sensor having good stability, low power consumption, robust structure, large over pressure protection range, and good linearity and increased sensitivity when zero suppression is used.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of capacitive absolute pressure sensors, and will thus be described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications such as in accelerator and force sensors and diaphragm type actuators.
The present invention preferably operates in the touch mode. Touch mode sensors have been disclosed, for example, in Ding et al., Touch Mode Silicon Capacitive Pressure Sensors, 1990 ASME Winter Annual Meeting, Nov. 25, 1990.
Briefly, touch mode sensors can be described as follows. In, for example, capacitive pressure sensors using some type of diaphragm (whether or not in the touch mode) when a pressure is impressed upon the diaphragm, the diaphragm deflects. The deflection necessarily changes the gap below the diaphragm. The change in gap results in a capacitance change which is sensed and used to determine a measurement of the pressure. In the touch mode, the diaphragm is deflected to actually touch the surface therebeneath. The area that is touched is a factor in the magnitude of the change of capacitance.
However, the disclosed sensors do not possess the useful characteristics of the present invention such as a vacuum sealed gap, or the connection to the area beneath the diaphragm using buried electrode structures to achieve electrical feedthrough for convenient sensing operations. Moreover, the disclosed sensors had stability and hysteresis problems which are overcome in the present invention.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,075 to Zanini-Fisher et al. discloses a fabrication method for silicon/glass capacitive absolute pressure sensors. The disclosed method of fabrication, however, is extremely complicated and results in a structurally distinct sensor.
Generally speaking, conventional capacitive absolute pressure sensors operate in a limited temperature range of approximately -50.degree. to 100.degree. C. Further, no known sensors can withstand both specified operating temperature and pressure and much higher (many times the operating values) manufacturing temperature and pressure. For example, molding the sensor into a tire is but one illustration of an environment where conventional sensors fail to meet these desired criteria. Moreover, most known commercial devices of low and moderate costs have a base line drift problem with time in the field. Thus, the accuracy is typically worse than .+-.1% over approximately one year in the field, without calibration. The present design is able to overcome these industrial application problems.
For absolute capacitive pressure sensors, one of the most difficult problems is the design and fabrication of electrical feedthroughs from the hermetically sealed reference cavity to an area that can be conveniently accessed for sensing. A low cost, reliable and wafer-level fabricating technique for electrical feedthrough is, consequently, becoming more and more important for the sensor manufacture and packaging.
Several electrical feedthrough structures have been developed. One of these approaches is a vacuum seal by using a PN Junction Feedthrough. In this technique, N-type silicon is used to form the upper sensor/diaphragm structures. The upper electrode is a P+ silicon diaphragm. The bottom electrode, however, is made by two separate metal patterns on the glass substrate wafer. The diffused P.sup.+ feedthroughs are fabricated on N-type silicon and are used to connect the two parts during the anodic (electrostatic) bonding process. Therefore, a hermetic sealed cavity with multiple feedthroughs can be fabricated by this technique on a wafer-level process.
This feedthrough structure, however, is subject to problems associated with P-N junctions. Improper protection of junctions degrades the sensor performance due to junction noise and reverse leakage currents. In addition to the protection of the junction, ion implantation is suggested to form the P.sup.+ feedthroughs in order to reduce surface steps caused by the diffusion. Thus, the number of improvements required to fabricate a high performance pressure sensor is excessive.
Other crude techniques that possess fabrication and/or operational deficiencies have been developed. In one technique, an electrical feedthrough channel is etched in a silicon dividing wall. After joining the silicon diaphragm assembly and glass substrate together by electrostatic (anodic) bonding, the substrate electrode is brought out from the chamber to the outside bonding pad through the small channel. In order to achieve a hermetically sealed cavity for the absolute capacitive pressure sensor, this small hole of the feedthrough channel is sealed. A glass frit is used as the sealant for this purpose.
A direct vacuum seal is performed in a vacuum furnace. The device, with glass frit of proper composition applied to seal the channel, is put into the vacuum furnace and heated to a defined temperature-time curve at which the glass frit melts. Then the furnace is cooled to room temperature and the electrical feedthrough is thus sealed.
Another relatively crude approach to seal the reference cavity with a wafer-level process is a vacuum seal by sputtering Pyrex glass film over a channel opening. A channel with a one micron depth is etched in the silicon in order to facilitate the sealing process. A silicon mask to block most areas of the device except the channel regions is made. This mask is aligned to the device wafer and fixed together. Then the composite wafers are sent to the sputtering machine. A 3-micron glass film, or other type of insulating film, is sputter deposited to seal the 1-micron depth channel.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved capacitive absolute pressure sensor which resolves the above-referenced difficulties and others.